Unified Actor Research Articles

Confucius’ Trap?

The rise of the People’s Republic of China has spurred research into whether this rising power will end up colliding with the United States, following a pattern that Graham Allison has called Thucydides’ Trap. However, some of these studies depart from the idea that the State is a unified actor and that conflict is inherent to the international system. In other words, China will behave in the same manner as all western powers on the international stage. This article will sustain that it is impossible to analyse and/or infer the potential conduct of the People’s Republic of China without grasping its over 2000-year’s cultural heritage. The legacy of Confucianism enjoyed a rebirth in the People’s Republic of China since the 1990s. In this sense, the theoretical tool of constructivism is used to study that legacy and its impact on Chinese strategic thinking, which is also linked to Chinese traditions and can be observed in the dynamics of Wéiqí: the weakening of the adversary in order to obtain greater territorial control. To that effect, we observe how investment, trade and cultural penetration by China into the world has evolved in the last few years.

Individual drivers of toxicity in radical right-wing populist legislative campaigns

Most studies of political rhetoric examine only political leadership or treat parties as unified actors. However, what happens where electoral systems incentivise candidates to diverge from stated party messaging during campaigns? This article uses novel data on political experience and candidate backgrounds from the 2022 French parliamentary elections to explore the individual drivers of campaigning behaviour. The choice of France, with its multiple and prominent radical right-wing parties, allows for the consideration of both within- and between-party differences in individual campaigning. Using the salient example of toxic rhetoric, findings demonstrate that even when party leaders publicly urge moderation, individual candidates do not necessarily follow along. This implies the need for additional focus on the individual-level drivers of political semantics, especially where candidates are apt to campaign independently, using social media platforms to communicate directly with citizens.

UNVEILING REALIST EXPLANATIONS: MEARSHEIMER'S PERSPECTIVE ON WAR IN UKRAINE

The realist explanations surrounding the origins of Russia's war against Ukraine, specifically John Mearsheimer's assertion of western responsibility, have sparked controversy. Realism, including its more specific offensive sub-school, presents a wide range of contrasting interpretations, depending on the actors studied and the characteristics attributed to them. Similar to classical realism, structural realism is based on underlying assumptions about human nature. To elucidate these assumptions regarding the behavior of states and their leaders, the article explores key components of structural theory, such as power differentials, rational interests, and the perception of states as unified actors. It establishes connections between these concepts and fundamental emotions like fear and anger. The article argues that realists should distinguish between the aspirations of states and the individual leaders' pursuit of power and status. Additionally, the consideration of Russian security concerns may reflect the elite's perceived threat of cultural subordination and Putin's personal apprehension about regime stability. Engaging with realist thought is crucial, not only due to its ongoing influence on policy-making, particularly in Russia, but also to prevent the misappropriation of caricatured versions of realist arguments.

State Nobility in the Field of International Criminal Justice: Divergent Elites and the Contest to Control Power over Capital

Abstract Criminal law was long considered as the sovereign domain of the state. However, after the end of the Cold War, states created new international criminal courts. These courts are part of a wider field of international criminal justice in which different elites work to develop, support, and critique legal ideas and practices that either complement or challenge the state. Inspired by Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology and based on a multiple correspondence analysis with sixty-four modalities, this article contributes a critical analysis of 365 elite agents active in this field. The analysis shows how different types and volumes of capital structure relations between these elites as well as between the field of international criminal justice and the state. Because these relations can turn state nobility against its national origins, international criminal justice poses a potential challenge to the state’s social fabric which goes beyond legal and political controversies: International criminal justice is emblematic of a competition over the value of and control over capital which plays out at the borders between the national and the international. This contest underlines that the state does necessarily control power over state capital and that, when its elites no longer reproduce its meta-capital, the state loses the semblance of being a unified actor on the world stage. Whereas the intensity of this contest over capital might be particular to the field of international criminal justice, similar battles of control are likely to affect the relations between the state and other globalized fields of law, justice, and politics.

Endgames: Military Response to Protest in Arab Autocracies

Endgames: Military Response to Protest in Arab Autocracies

THE POLITICAL CONTESTATION OF NORD STREAM PROJECT: MULTIDIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS

This article aims to explain the influence of different dimensions of political deliberation over the two strings of the Nord Stream pipeline on the European Union’s ability to act as a unified actor with coherent strategy in the realm of global energy diplomacy. This study concentrated on four main cleavages of the project’s political contestation: international, supranational, transatlantic and environmental. The analysis of the Nord Stream project’s political contestation implies four basic insights. The first one is the absence of principal unity among EU member states regarding both of their economic interests and interpretation of key political developments on the continent. Second, the market-oriented spirit of EU legislation complicated the incorporation of any broader geopolitical considerations in decision-making over the pipeline’s future. Third, the EU’s overdependence on the US in geostrategic issues highlighted problems in realization of idea of “geopolitical Europe” as an independent actor with a coherent strategy on the international level. Fourth, the policies for reaching each of the three broad goals of EU energy policies (marketization, securitization and decarbonization) are often contradictory between each other, which was exemplified by the presented case.

International Bureaucracies as Strategic Actors: How the Better Regulation Reform Strengthens the European Commission

The 2015 Better Regulation Reform is recognized as one of the key changes of Juncker’s European Commission, but its political implications remain understudied. Despite its appearance as a seemingly technical evaluation system, we present the reform as a political instrument that enhances the strategic actorness of the Commission, both internally and vis-a-vis the member states. Drawing on primary documents and 16 expert interviews with senior Commission officials, we demonstrate that the Better Regulation Reform enhances the Commission’s ability to act as a unified actor (internal coherence) and contributes to its ability to justify its actions vis-a-vis the member states (external robustness). The article contributes to the literature on international public administration in general and the EU in particular, as it demonstrates how institutional policies may enhance bureaucratic influence. We reveal how an international public administration can conform to member statesʼ demands for more accountability and transparency yet design the overall evaluation system in a way that contributes to its strategic actorness.

Negotiating with Two Hands Tied: Fragmented Decision Processes and Concessions in Civil Wars

Abstract Theories of conflict resolution often posit unified actors as a simplifying assumption. In practice conflict actors often struggle to balance competing factions and centers of power. Schelling and Putnam have argued that factors that constrain what a negotiator can accept are a potential source of leverage in a bargaining process, yet a counter argument suggests that leaders seeking to negotiate, while facing divided government, may be less able to credibly signal their intentions. Drawing on event data from nearly 3,000 conflict-months, this paper analyzes the frequency of concessions offered by both rebels and governments. This study finds evidence that a fractured decision-process results in both rebels and governments making more concessions. Further corroboration is provided through a case study of the Philippine government’s efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict in the Mindanao region.

An Evaluation of the External Trade Policy of the European Union in terms of a Unified Structure: Case of Doha Round

In the first part of this study, the external trade policy of EU will be explored by elaborating the policy tools and decision making procedures in order to reach an argument about whether EU is a unified actor on these bases. For this reason, in order to go into details, a comparison of European external trade in goods and services will be specifically focused on in the second part for the sake of any conclusion related to its collectivity on these trade activities. In the third part, Doha International Trade Round will be introduced as an example case to be studied in the final part, where the reflections of a possible unified structure within the EU will be examined.

Resistencias contra el neoliberalismo: una conceptualización de su ejercicio entre lo local y lo global

Desde la década de 1970 se han implementado políticas neoliberales que afectan distintas esferas de la vida social. Por ello, definir el neoliberalismo como una forma de racionalidad política resulta útil para entender sus variadas manifestaciones y efectos, así como los distintos tipos de resistencia que se construyen en su contra. Este artículo hace una propuesta conceptual desde un marco neogramsciano en relaciones internacionales, que permite entender las resistencias contra el neoliberalismo como prácticas locales y globales diversas que retan el orden establecido y cuestionan su carácter hegemónico. Todo esto en un proceso de cambio social que abarca tanto experiencias individuales como globales, que confluyen en el denominado “movimiento alterglobalización”. Para tales fines, en primer lugar, se caracteriza el neoliberalismo como una forma de racionalidad política, mostrando sus efectos más allá de las dimensiones socioeconómicas; en segundo lugar, se conceptualizan las resistencias en su contra como se ha descrito anteriormente; en tercer lugar, se presenta un análisis del movimiento alterglobalización, entendiendo que no es un actor unificado sino un proceso de cambio social apuntalado por la diversidad; y, finalmente, se presentan una serie de conclusiones que resaltan la importancia académica y política de esta perspectiva.

Taming feminism? The place of gender equality in the ‘Progressive Sweden’ brand

As prior work on nation branding in Japan, Canada and Iceland has shown, gender can be an important component in nation branding. This article looks at the evolution of the idea of gender equality as a “Swedish” trait, from the initial incorporation of gender equality in Swedish state identity in the 1990s to contemporary nation branding. Based on standard discourse analysis of branding documents, branding websites and social media presence administered by the public diplomacy agency, the Swedish Institute, we show that gender equality remains a central pillar in the “Progressive Sweden” brand. In contrast with other national brands, “Progressive Sweden” is devoid of the more androcentric narratives and sexually objectifying representations of women. However, the “Progressive Sweden” narrative sports its own peculiarities, as it presents a liberal dreamscape that slides between utopian ideals and generalizations about “Sweden” as a unified actor whose population shares behaviors and goals. Discord and political struggle are written out of this narrative. Despite its rhetorical centrality in Swedish foreign policy, feminism thus disappears from view in the “Progressive Sweden” brand. The article ends with some considerations for the future of Swedish nation branding.

Understanding governmental activism

This article seeks to understand an understudied phenomenon: governmental players joining forces with non-governmental players in contentious actions against policies they want to prevent or redress. This behaviour, which we call ‘governmental activism’, problematizes important assumptions in the social movement literature on state–SMO dichotomies and on seeing ‘the state’ as a homogeneous and unified actor that solely provides the context for SMO activities. Governmental activism also problematizes assumptions on cooperation and ‘new’ modes of coordination in the governance literature. To understand governmental activism, we build on the strategic interaction perspective from social movement studies and on third-phase institutionalism from political science. In our analysis, we show the particulars of governmental activism. Our arguments are illustrated by empirical material on a case of municipal amalgamation in the Netherlands.

Sub- and Trans-National Actors in South Korea's Island Disputes: The Cases of Dokdo and Iŏdo

This paper provides a political analysis on two territorial disputes that South Korea has with Japan over Dokdo/Takeshima and with China over Iŏdo/Suyan Rocks, as well as on their implications for the Northeast Asia region, focusing on the roles of sub-state actors and the United States as a third party trans-national actor. It mainly explores why South Koreans consider territorial claims by Japan and China such an affront as to require strident demonstration of ownership, especially since they already exercise effective control over the territories under dispute. It also explores what actions the South Korean government would take in the event of maneuvers or attempted landings by security forces or nationalists/fishing boats from China on Iŏdo or Japan on Dokdo. Employing Robert Putnam's Two Level Game Framework, the paper provides comparative insights on how these cases have been developed to date through interactions between Level I, official negotiators, and Level II, sub- and trans-national actors. The two cases demonstrate that the state is not a unified actor, and non-state actors' nationalistic collective sentiment has played (and will play) a greater role in shaping the directions of (potential) conflicts over Dokdo and Iŏdo.

The European Union's visibility and coherence at the United Nations General Assembly

The Lisbon Treaty brought about significant changes regarding the EU's external representation system with new institutional structures set forward to enhance the role of the EU as a unified global actor. In this article, we focus on the UN General Assembly examining whether the coherence and visibility of the EU has increased in the post-Lisbon era. We operationalize and measure both concepts on the basis of oral interventions made by EU and EU member-states’ representatives in the Plenary and in the six Committees over a period of six UNGA sessions. Our analysis is based on verbatim records, official EU/UN documentation and 41 semi-structured interviews with officials in New York and Brussels. We find a smooth and by and large successful transition from the Council Presidency-based system to the EU Delegation-based system of representation that enhances the EU visibility in the UNGA. We also posit that after a period of adjustment and overcoming of intra-EU institutional hurdles, the EU coherence has increased overall. Both our findings testify to the gradual but unmistaken positive effect of the Lisbon changes on the EU foreign policy system at least as far as the UN General Assembly is concerned.

Divide and conquer? China and the cacophony of foreign investment rules in the EU

ABSTRACTFor more than 50 years, the European Union (EU) was not in charge of international investment agreements; its member states were, and they negotiated more than 1,200 bilateral investment treaties (BITs) with third countries. This lack of internal EU cohesiveness created costs for Europe, notably in terms of bargaining leverage over market access and ability to shape international norms. The 2009 Lisbon Treaty formally transferred competence over the negotiations of foreign direct investment (FDI) agreements to the EU, which became in theory a unified actor with respect to both outbound and inbound FDI. However, many political and legal ambiguities surround the true extent of the EU's authority and autonomy over foreign investment. This contribution argues that the surge of Chinese FDI into Europe, which is taking place simultaneously with this transition to a new EU foreign investment regime, has the potential to influence the final shape of this regime by exerting both centripetal and centrifugal pressures.

The EU’s Performance in the World Health Organization: Internal Cramps after the ‘Lisbon cure’

This paper analyses the performance of the European Union (EU) in the World Health Organization (WHO). It looks at two core elements of performance: effectiveness and relevance. It also briefly discusses the financial viability of WHO’s activities. The article discusses the increased Europeanisation and internationalisation of health issues. These developments make it almost inevitable that the EU is becoming a more unified actor within WHO negotiations. At the same time, the EU’s performance is constrained by EU member states’ being cautious about ceding competences to the EU on health issues, having widely diverging preferences on issues such as reproductive rights, and not fully trusting the European Commission to take over external representation in WHO negotiations.

Pragmatic power EUrope?

Many portrayals of the European Union (EU) as an international actor are based on selective appraisals of its external activity or restraint. This article explores the concept of a pragmatic power EUrope. It considers pragmatism as an academic approach or philosophy, and as an attitude or method of political practice. It then aims to generate interaction between these understandings by applying them to important contemporary ‘partnerships’ for the EU: Russia and China. These examples reveal the EU as a composite rather than unified actor, with the pragmatism of individual components undermining a more influential collective power.

Elite positionings towards Hindi: Language policies, political stances and language competence in India1

In India, Hindi is imagined and institutionalized as the national language which weds together India's pluralistic population under the banner of a shared Indian identity. Approaching language competence as embedded in and performed through language practices and ideologies, I explore how a New Delhi elite community positions themselves towards Hindi vis‐à‐vis national language policies and political movements. Contrasting with traditional unified elite portrayals, e.g. ‘elite closure’ (Myers‐Scotton 1990), India has multiple sociolinguistically discordant elite groups, and these liberal elites ideologically construct their Hindi (in)competency in an alternative framework attending to the history (and failure) of Hindi‐based nationalism, their disalignment with modern right‐wing movements, and their continued affiliation with English. This perspective of some elites as negotiating and disagreeing with contemporary political movements and language policy legislature illuminates language competencies as socially constructed and locally grounded, and challenges past interpretations of postcolonial elites as unified actors controlling the dominant linguistic marketplace.

The Taliban in southern Afghanistan: a localised insurgency with a local objective

This article gives an in-depth description and analysis of the Taliban insurgency in southern Afghanistan in 2008. It describes the local dynamics of the insurgency and argues that the Taliban should not be seen as a unified hierarchical actor that can be dealt with as part of a generic approach covering the whole of Afghanistan. The article will show that the insurgency in southern Afghanistan is highly localised in nature, being to a large extent driven by local commanders and local area networks often centred on individual commanders themselves. It will also show that the driver or cause behind the insurgency differ for the local Afghan Taliban and the foreign Pakistani Taliban respectively. The nature of the southern insurgency, with the local Taliban commanders working through local knowledge networks with a locally determined cause, implies that a strategic-level ‘peace deal’ with Tier I of the strategic Taliban leadership will not create the desired effect of ending the insurgency – there will not be an overall domino effect in these parts of the country.

Review: Does Peacekeeping Work? Shaping Belligerents' Choices after Civil War, Un Peacekeeping in Civil Wars

DOES PEACEKEEPING WORK? Shaping Belligerents' Choices After Civil War Virginia Page Fortna Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008. 232pp, $24.95 paper ISBN 9780691136714UN PEACEKEEPING IN CIVILWARS Lise Morje Howard Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 4i6pp, $36.99 paper ISBN 9780521707671The demise of the Cold War brought with it expectations of a new, less ideologically divisive world order based on international cooperation, the emergence of revived multilateral institutions, and a more promising future for the UN and peacekeeping. After years of near-paralysis, the time had arrived for a transformed UN to intervene in the broad interests of humanity rather than the narrow self-interest ofthe state. Much ofthe literature in recent years was inspired by that earlier sense of optimism. Assumptions were also made about the need to augment mechanisms of conflict resolution by shifting from traditional to peace enforcement. However, the upsurge of ethnic conflict in the wake of the disbanding of states such as the former Yugoslavia appeared to overwhelm what some saw as an increasingly irrelevant institution. Lise Morje Howard's UN Peacekeeping in Civil Wars and Virginia Page Fortna's Does Peacekeeping Work? Shaping Belligerents' Choices after Civil War provide a timely new justification for and reasons for optimism about the UN's work in this area.In learning from previous UN attempts to manage civil conflict, Howard's study suggests that is most effective when peacekeepers take their cues as much from the local people as UN headquarters. Premised on the necessity of decentralizing UN authority, Howard's central argument is that the success or failure of multidimensional peacekeeping rests on the confluence of three conditions that distinguish her methodological approach: first, certain favourable 'situational factors' of the country emerging from civil war; second, consensual but only moderately intense interests of the powerful members of the Security Council; and finally, 'first-level' organizational learning on the ground, on the part of the UN mission (2). The critical role of organizational learning stands out as an innovative treatment of past and future operations.Howard deems six interventions - in Namibia, El Salvador, Cambodia, Mozambique, East Slavonia, Croatia and East Timor - to have been successful, while four others - in Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Angola - were failures. In applying her analytical parameters, Howard measures success and failure according to mandate implementation, as the UN secretariat interprets it (7). Howard exposes an important linkage between the secretariat and organizational learning as one ofthe key determinants of the success. By emphasizing the process of learning (especially in the field), she reminds readers that the effectiveness of such bodies as the secretariat depends on learning lessons from the field and implementing them in the UN's subsidiary organizations. Howard emphasizes that the UN is not a unified actor by citing examples of lower-level functionaries who seized the initiative and thereby contributed to their missions' success (15).In presenting the UN's failures in Somalia, Rwanda, Angola, and Bosnia, Howard isolates complex combinations of causal factors. These failures were not the result of the belligerents' lack of consent to a UN mission, or an absence of security council interest in the conflicts. Rather, Howard argues, organizational dysfunction within the UN secretariat was primarily to blame. In particular, by declining to stand up to the security council during the formulation and implementation of these mandates, the secretariat failed to fulfil its potential. Howard's negative assessment ofthe Bosnian intervention - especially the problems with UNPROFOR, the establishment of safe havens, and the fall of Srebrenica - may call into question the way she measures success. …